Susana Villarán – the first elected female mayor of Peru's capital, Lima – is likely to survive a recall election widely seen as a bid to reclaim power by groups threatened by her reforms.

Three exit polls on Sunday showed that roughly 53% of voters want the centre-leftist mayor to finish her term.

Villarán has battled to organise Lima's chaotic transit system and reform other corruption-ridden institutions. The career human rights official was backed by most of Peru's political establishment.

Her detractors, including her predecessor, Luis Castaneda, called her inept, inefficient and slow in executing public works projects. They collected signatures to call Sunday's vote on whether to remove her from office.

But their efforts appeared to have failed. Polling company CPI showed 54% of voters rejecting her ouster, while polling firms Ipsos and Datum Internacional had her receiving roughly 53% support.